ScottRNelson
Mr. Dual Sport Rider
Time to bump this thread again. 
When I still lived in Folsom, I had worked out about a 100 mile loop that included about 40 miles of dirt roads up around Foresthill. I would take people on that route that were either new to dual sport riding, or that weren't able to get out much. I considered the whole thing to be fairly easy, but after bringing a guy along on the third time I did it and having him dump his bike, I reconsidered.
The guy was riding a BMW F650GS (I think) and claimed that he knew how to ride on dirt roads. So I told him I would meet him down at the bottom of the first section which I considered to be so easy as to hardly be worth a second thought. He tried giving the bike too much front brake in a loose downhill turn and down he went. He was able to ride back out of there okay and the bike didn't need too much in the way of repairs, but it kind of wrecked that ride for both of us. He bailed out as soon as we got back to pavement and I cut the rest of it short too, after riding one more dirt section.
The next time I took someone on that ride whose skills I was unsure of, we went over to Prairie City OHV park for half an hour first and practiced riding up and down their hills before heading for the dirt roads. Everybody found the dirt roads totally easy after that little bit of practice.
I believe strongly that learning to ride in the dirt first gives you much better skills at controlling a bike than only riding on pavement. Both of my sons started riding dirt bikes at age 13 and now have the skills to control motorcycles in most situations they're going to encounter.
I think everybody should have a dual sport as their first motorcycle, but few are willing to go that way. I had one neighbor in Folsom who had always wanted to ride and finally got the wife's approval to get his motorcycle license and a bike once he hit middle age. He didn't talk to me until he had already bought a KLR650. We went on a bunch of rides together and he pressively improved his off road skills. We eventually found the limit of how rough a road he wanted to ride when the KLR bucked him off on a section I didn't have much trouble with on my XR. But after that he was at least able to identify sections he might have difficulty with.
We need more dirt riding. :ride
When I still lived in Folsom, I had worked out about a 100 mile loop that included about 40 miles of dirt roads up around Foresthill. I would take people on that route that were either new to dual sport riding, or that weren't able to get out much. I considered the whole thing to be fairly easy, but after bringing a guy along on the third time I did it and having him dump his bike, I reconsidered.
The guy was riding a BMW F650GS (I think) and claimed that he knew how to ride on dirt roads. So I told him I would meet him down at the bottom of the first section which I considered to be so easy as to hardly be worth a second thought. He tried giving the bike too much front brake in a loose downhill turn and down he went. He was able to ride back out of there okay and the bike didn't need too much in the way of repairs, but it kind of wrecked that ride for both of us. He bailed out as soon as we got back to pavement and I cut the rest of it short too, after riding one more dirt section.
The next time I took someone on that ride whose skills I was unsure of, we went over to Prairie City OHV park for half an hour first and practiced riding up and down their hills before heading for the dirt roads. Everybody found the dirt roads totally easy after that little bit of practice.
I believe strongly that learning to ride in the dirt first gives you much better skills at controlling a bike than only riding on pavement. Both of my sons started riding dirt bikes at age 13 and now have the skills to control motorcycles in most situations they're going to encounter.
I think everybody should have a dual sport as their first motorcycle, but few are willing to go that way. I had one neighbor in Folsom who had always wanted to ride and finally got the wife's approval to get his motorcycle license and a bike once he hit middle age. He didn't talk to me until he had already bought a KLR650. We went on a bunch of rides together and he pressively improved his off road skills. We eventually found the limit of how rough a road he wanted to ride when the KLR bucked him off on a section I didn't have much trouble with on my XR. But after that he was at least able to identify sections he might have difficulty with.
We need more dirt riding. :ride
